Behaviour Management
Good order is maintained on the basis of strong professional relationships between staff and young women. Young women are expected to take responsibility and show respect for their home assisting it to run smoothly through acceptable behaviour, and consideration for others. Some initially have difficulty in responding and are encouraged to discuss issues with staff who allow them to explore their feelings and find more positive ways of expressing themselves. Much of the approach is concerned with commonsense, good parenting, negotiation, and compromise, and has usually been found to be sufficient to gain co-operation.
Whilst emphasis is placed on promoting positive behaviour in situations where young women continually fail to respond, staff do become more directive. If young women endanger themselves, others, or cause serious damage to the fabric of the building staff may also need to physically hold them. The home has clear written behaviour management policy which is available upon request and which sets out the actions it is permissible for staff to take.
Bullying:
Young women / staff are expected to respect each other. Respect in this context means valuing each other by speaking and behaving with other people in an appropriate way. This includes not using obscene, offensive, racist, or sexist language, not engaging in bullying behaviour, and respecting and valuing diversity.
Young women are encouraged to inform staff if they feel bullied or intimidated by others. The Service views bullying very seriously and defines it as any act which causes distress to an individual or group, is motivated by the desire to hurt, threaten or frighten through the abuse of power manifested in threats, verbal taunts, abuse of possessions, theft, and physical violence. All bullying is immediately acted upon, is investigated, and is prevented from continuing.
All young women are offered guidance, support regarding dealing with bullying from both the perspective of the victim and perpetrator. All staff also receive training in relation to the recognition of, and responding to bullying.
Progression and development
Clare Lodge operates a behavioural Progression and Development System designed to reward positive behaviour over short periods of time, thereby allowing each young woman to learn / internalize the benefits of appropriate behavior. This enables young women to receive goods, treats, and freedoms related to points awarded for satisfactory behaviour at home and school. Whilst supplementary to the importance the emphasis placed on good relationships between young women and staff the reward system does provide a positive re-enforcer for those placed.
Clare Lodge would rather reward positive behavior than need to use sanctions though sometimes this is unavoidable. However, all sanctions are appropriate / proportional to the behavior and are of limited determinate time. The following are sanctions that may be used: -
Verbal reprimand.
Curtailment of leisure activities.
Additional household chores,
Reparation for damage caused to property.
Restorative Justice.
Restricted room time.
Physical Intervention: This will only be used when all other courses of action would be likely to fail, to avert an immediate danger of personal injury to the person, another person, or to avoid immediate danger of serious damage to property. This is only considered when all other attempts at prevention have failed and always involves more than one member of staff, using the minimum reasonable force necessary to hold and calm the person involved.
Physical intervention is used as a last resort when all other methods of control have failed. Staff are trained to a nationally accredited standard (BILD & CALM®) and only use approved non-pain compliant methods. All use of physical intervention is recorded, reviewed, and monitored.
